Housekeeper in the dungeon

The Steward in the Dungeon
Episode 6

“I think we should start with the floor.”

Hee-na grabbed a broom and dustpan in both hands.

She was now inside the house with her shoes on. It was grossly unacceptable behavior for a Korean, but she didn’t feel bad about it.

The floor of the room was as dirty as the dirt outside.

“I can’t mop the floor until I get rid of this pile of dirt.”

For the real cleaning, I tied my hair up in a bun and put on a mask.

If I didn’t wear a mask, the dirt would fill my lungs with dust. Plus, the house smelled musty, and the bathroom stank.

“Ah.”

Hee-Na paused as she pulled on her rubber gloves.

“Run. Run. Run.”

Impatiently, the snail urged her on.

She waved her hand in the air. It meant to wait a moment.

“Wait. Let’s take some pictures before we start. We need to document how horrible this place is.”

Plus, with this kind of dirt, no amount of cleaning would make a difference.

If I documented the initial state, I’d have something to compare it to and at least have the satisfaction of knowing I’d made some progress.

Click! Click! Click!

Hee-Na walked around and took pictures of the dirty house.

The more she looked inside the house, the more she realized that it was just like this. She even felt nauseous when she photographed the bathroom.

‘I can’t believe this is the first picture on my new phone…….’

Hee-na felt sorry for her phone.

“Behavioral pause. Quick, quick, quick!”

Of course, the snail was chasing after her the whole time she was taking the picture, chanting “fast” and “fast”.

Hee-Na’s persistence stat was 20, but the snails must have been around 100.

“Okay, okay, I’ll start now.”

Hee-Na bent down and cautiously tried to stroke the snail’s chubby head.

But before she could reach it, the snail tucked its head back into its shell.

“Chet.

He was a smart one.

She pulled on a pair of rubber gloves, disappointed in her failure, and prepared to clean it up when the snail twitched its antennae.

“What’s wrong? I’m trying to do a quick run like you said.”

Then the snail flashed a strict font into Hee-Na’s vision. It was cursive. It was serious.

“Not wearing basic clothing.”

“Basic attire?”

“Housekeeper’s basic attire. Headband. Apron. Other optional extras. Mask. Gloves.”

Hee-Na smirked at the snail’s request. She didn’t think she needed much to start cleaning.

But Hee-Na obediently followed the snail’s instructions. After all, he was the ‘house manager’ here, so it couldn’t hurt to follow his orders.

“Okay, okay. I just happened to bring an apron, so you can wear it. And the headband is……. Hmm. I guess a dish towel will do.”

Hee-Na rummaged through her luggage and found an apron and a dishtowel.

After putting on the apron and wrapping the dishtowel around her head, the snail was satisfied.

“Great job.”

I was just about to ask, “Is that it?” when the snail’s praise came back to me.

The system window informed her of a new fact. Hee-Na’s eyes widened.

“Does this make me more efficient?”

The system popped up a notification window as if to answer.

“What? It can also increase my rank?”

This was new information. It meant that if she worked hard enough, Hee-Na, who was a D, could be promoted to a C, B, A, or S rank.

“If it’s as easy as it sounds, everyone will be ranked S?

But Hee-Na thought it was similar to the phrase, “If you study hard, you can easily become number one in the country!

If that was possible, her brother wouldn’t have been begging for a D for ten years.

“So, let’s get started, shall we?”

Hee-Na clapped her hands together to encourage herself. As she crossed her broom and dustpan and took up her battle stance, a system window popped up in front of her.

“What are those fuzzy fingertips?

I asked, and an explanation popped up.

As expected, the explanation was still not very clear.

Hee-Na wondered if all Awakened had a skill status window like hers.

“Yeah. Anyway…… Let’s see the effect of the skill, shall we?”

Hee-Na cleared her mind of this and that and started cleaning for real.

“Ugh, this is hard.”

She wiped the beaded sweat on her forehead with her sleeve.

When she checked the time, it had already been three hours since she started cleaning.

She felt stiff and weak as if her physical fitness (stamina, strength, and agility) had reached its limit. I was hungry for all the hard work.

Just in time, the system window notified her that her skill level had increased.

Hee-Na’s lips curled into a smile.

“Should I be happy that I’ve improved by 12, or should I complain that I’ve only improved by 12……?

Roughly calculating per minute, 10 minutes of painstaking cleaning would give her one point of proficiency.

So it would take me about 10,000 minutes to get to a skill level of 1000. Ten thousand minutes is about 167 hours, and 167 hours is about seven days.

It seemed like an incredibly rigorous promotion requirement – no eating, no rest, no sleep, just cleaning for over five days – but it was surprisingly doable when you think about it.

“I only need to spend 167 hours to rank up a skill, is that worth it?”

If I cleaned for 8 hours a day, I was able to rank up the skill in a little over 20 days, or less than a month.

Of course, cleaning for eight hours a day is impossible unless you’re a super-strong janitor.

“Break over. Resume cleaning!”

While she was lost in thought, the snail hopped onto Hee-Na’s shoulder and urged her on.

“A mountain to climb.”

Hee-Na stretched her arms and legs as she mechanically began to work, feeling weak from all the concentration she’d put into cleaning.

She had a Body Muscle Strength total of less than 30.

“Snail, I’m really tired, but can we take a break? I’m really hungry.”

“Snap, snap, snap!”

“Did you just whip me?”

“Yes.”

“Haha…….”

Hee-Na ignored the stubborn snail and took off her rubber gloves. Suddenly, she couldn’t help but feel hungry.

“No matter what, I need to eat something, I’m suddenly feeling weak.”

I grabbed the kimbap I had bought for dinner and pulled it out of the plastic bag. The basic kimbap I bought from Gimbap×Ra was plump and very appetizing.

When I smelled the savory sesame oil, my mouth watered. I was hungry as if I hadn’t eaten in days, even though I had eaten lunch earlier.

“Drink up!”

Hee-na ate three rows of kimbap like a crab blindfolded. She had bought enough for the next day’s meal!

Usually, one roll is enough to fill her up, but three?

Hee-Na was in awe of herself for such an unbelievable feat. Even after eating three rows of kimbap, she wasn’t full, and her stomach was still light.

“Is it because of the hard work? I ate so much…….”

As I was muttering to myself, a status window suddenly popped up in front of me.

She suddenly realized the reason for her sudden fatigue and hunger. She had been working with all her might for three hours, and her stamina had been depleted.

“I’ve lasted this long with my physical strength.

After three hours of hard work at several times the usual intensity, it was no wonder he was exhausted.

“But you still have energy just by eating?”

I was surprised to see that my stamina was restored just by eating without a break. Then the system description window popped up and answered her question.

That’s right. This was also a skill. Hee-na laughed in disbelief.

“What is this skill?”

Of course, it was quite a useful skill for Hee-na, whose stamina stats were much lower than others. But a skill that restores stamina by eating real food…….

“No matter how Korean you are, you’re still a baptism.

Hee-na giggled as she cleaned up the mess from the kimbap.

“Restart, restart, restart.”

The snail on her shoulder, sensing her renewed energy, urged her on.

“You’re serious about taking care of the house, aren’t you? Okay, okay, I’ll clean up now that I’ve recovered from my fatigue.”

Hee-Na was a good worker, so she shrugged her shoulders and got back to work.

The snail managed to keep its balance on Hee-na’s wobbly shoulders.

“Housekeeping♬”

She even made musical notes to show how happy she was that her studio was getting cleaner. It was quite cute.

After three hours of cleaning, Hee-na pushed a push pick across the floor, which had become a bit like a sheet of wood, and opened her mouth.

“By the way, snail, I have a question.”

“Current status: open for questions.”

“I’m crying and eating mustard to clean because this is the house I have to live in now, but what’s the benefit of increasing my overall skill rank to the ‘Housekeeper’ rank? Does it make me better at doing chores as the name implies? I don’t see much use for that kind of thing…….”